Daily Hermes Auto-Update and Health Report on Windows

Status: Draft

Last tested: 2026-06-02

Works with: Hermes Agent on Windows, Windows Scheduled Tasks

Category: Hermes Agent / Windows

Difficulty: Intermediate

Problem

Hermes Agent can be updated manually, but a Windows install can become stale or unhealthy if nobody checks it regularly. You want an early-morning job that updates Hermes, runs diagnostics, restarts the Gateway, and sends a report.

What you will build

A Windows Scheduled Task that runs a Python health script every morning and sends a PASS/WARN/FAIL report to Discord.

Requirements

Hermes Agent installed on Windows
Python from the Hermes virtual environment
Discord bot token and channel configured if you want direct reports
Windows Scheduled Tasks available

Quick version

schtasks /Create /TN "Hermes_Auto_Update_Health" ^
  /TR "C:\Path\To\hermes-auto-update-health.cmd" ^
  /SC DAILY /ST 03:15 /F

Step-by-step setup

Step 1: Create a health script

Create a Python script that:

loads Hermes environment variables
checks `hermes update --check`
stops the Gateway before updating
runs `hermes update --yes --backup`
starts the Gateway again
runs `hermes doctor`
runs `npm audit --audit-level=moderate`
writes a full local log
sends a concise Discord report

Step 2: Create a CMD wrapper

@echo off
setlocal
set "HERMES_HOME=C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\hermes"
set "PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8"
cd /d "C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\hermes\hermes-agent"
"C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\hermes\hermes-agent\venv\Scripts\python.exe" "C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\hermes\scripts\hermes-auto-update-health.py" >> "C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\hermes\logs\hermes-auto-update-health-scheduled.log" 2>&1
exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%

Step 3: Register the scheduled task

schtasks /Create /TN "Hermes_Auto_Update_Health" /TR "C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\hermes\scripts\hermes-auto-update-health.cmd" /SC DAILY /ST 03:15 /F

Step 4: Test it manually

schtasks /Run /TN "Hermes_Auto_Update_Health"
schtasks /Query /TN "Hermes_Auto_Update_Health" /FO LIST /V

Verification

Task status returns `Ready` after the run.
Last Result is `0`.
Gateway is running afterward.
Discord receives a report.
Local log file contains full command output.

Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Update says `hermes.exe` is running | An interactive Hermes CLI/Desktop session is open | Close it or let the next morning run handle it |

| npm audit command not found | Windows subprocess cannot resolve Git Bash `npm` shim | Use `C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd` |

| Report not sent | Discord token/channel missing | Check `.env` values and bot permissions |

| Gateway not running after update | Scheduled task or gateway startup failed | Run `hermes gateway status` and inspect logs |

Optional upgrades

Add separate alerts for FAIL only.
Add log rotation.
Send reports to Slack/Telegram instead of Discord.
Add a weekly summary job.

Disclosure

This recipe is a genericized version of a real Windows Hermes maintenance workflow. Replace all paths and IDs with your own values.